Module 4 Flashcards
Structure/code
What is stored in memory
Limiting factors
Duration and capacity of memory
Encoding
How does information enter memory
Storage
How is information held in memory
Retrieval
How is information taken out of memory
Attkinson-Shiffrin Multi-store Model (1986)
Sensory input -> sensory memory -> short term memory -> long term memory
Attention moves info from sensory to STM
Rehearsal moves info from STM to LTM
Sensory memory (A-S Model)
Structure: unprocessed sensory data
Storage: different for every sense (iconic = visual, echoic = sound, tactile = touch)
Process: attention
Limiting Factors: capacity of attention (echoic and tactile longer than iconic)
Sperling sensory memory test
Flash grid of letters, ask for recall of all of them. Low performance. Repeated with audio cue for each line, performance improved with the cue; declined rapidly with time between sensation and cued retrieval. Proposed capacity is 9 items with very short duration
Short Term Memory (A-S Model)
Structure: Processed sensory data
Storage: Auditory or visual
Limiting Factors: duration (20 seconds without rehearsal) and capacity (7 +/- 2 meaningful chunks)
Process: maintenance rehearsal
Chunking
Grouping information into meaningful chunks to store more in short term memory
Verbal STM
7 +/- 2 chunks, evidenced by digit span testing (can remember more digits if their names are smaller) and phonological similarity effect (worse memory for rhyming items)
Visual STM
4 +/- 1 chunks, studied by Luck and Vogel using change detection tasks
STM Binding problem
Most everyday tasks don’t fit within visual or verbal STM only
Working Memory
Structure: verbal and visual and processor
Limiting factor: attentional resources
Allows us to store and manipulate information
Baddeley Working Memory Model
Central executive controls the phonological loop and the Visio-spatial sketch pad; episodic buffer added to solve binding problem
Central Executive
Processes/manipulates stored information, attentional control mechanism (diverts attention to those that need it); tested with change detection tasks. Regulates relevant and irrelevant information
Phonological Loop
Storage: phonological
Process: articulatory rehearsal
Converts incoming info into verbal code (articulation suppression tasks)
Articulatory suppression
By supplying another audio stimulus during the encoding process of sound, it blocks rehearsal in the phonological loop and reduces memory
Operation span tests
Measure working memory; alternate solving math problems and saying words to see how many words are remembered while the memory system is occupied
Episodic buffer
Holds bound information from the central executive, integrates information from multiple modalities into a cohesive memory
Cowan’s Model of Working Memory
No separate storage systems, just one memory. Working memory is us focusing our attention on 3-4 things from LTM; assumes parallel activism
Forgetting
Decay in retrieval ability of memories due to the passage of time or interference where new information displaces old information
